


'cause i need you to see (that you are the reason)

by rosekatxo



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:52:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446710
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rosekatxo/pseuds/rosekatxo
Summary: Post-13th April morning scene. Noah gets the wrong end of the stick about Charity and Vanessa's "break up".





	'cause i need you to see (that you are the reason)

**Author's Note:**

> not my best work - uni is slowly killing my soul, but i've had this half-written since last week and the spoilers for this week made me want to finish it so here's a v quick oneshot. set after the morning scene last friday (and written before tonight's eps despite the overlaps). hope it's okay!

Vanessa winced as the door slammed behind Paddy, exchanging a bemused glance with her girlfriend. Downing the rest of her water, she moved towards the sink but within an instant Charity had plucked the glass from her hand.

“I’ll get that babe, you get off to work. Wouldn’t want to make you any later than you already are,” the taller blonde teased, kissing Vanessa’s cheek as she passed.

“Yeah, well, it’s not like I’m any use there anyway.” Her smile dropped for a second, as it did every time she was stung with the sharp reminder that she wasn’t technically a vet any more – at least, not for the foreseeable. Sensing the shift in tone, Charity turned back to her girlfriend and took hold of the hand still adorned with the support, tracing delicate patterns on her skin in the hopes it would soothe her.

“It’s only temporary, Ness. You know that. Hey, and at least you still get to sit and talk to your little snakey pal,” she smirked. Vanessa rolled her eyes, a fond smile playing on her lips.

“Don’t mock Voldemort,” she warned, struggling to suppress her giggles. Charity met her eyes for all of two seconds before both women burst out laughing.

“Wow, would you look at that? I didn’t even need my fake moustache to cheer you up this time.”

Vanessa grinned. “Must just be a natural talent of yours,” she replied pulling her in for one last kiss.

Behind them, the door swung open once more to reveal a grumpy-looking Noah. Charity was the first to notice, pulling away from her girlfriend to greet her son. “Morning babe,” she offered, relinquishing her hold on the smaller blonde. “Want me to make you some toast?”

“Nah,” he grunted, moving past her to grab a drink. “Morning Ness. Didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Morning, Noah,” Vanessa smiled curiously back. “Why not? I usually stay over when your mum’s working late.” Her smile soon turned into a frown when she noticed the look on both of their faces, Noah’s grumpy pout so similar to the one his mother so frequently wore it was almost creepy. Charity, on the other hand, suddenly looked… _sad_ , was the only was she could describe it. Scarily like the fragile woman Vanessa had found herself confronted with just the day before.

“Is everything okay?” Vanessa enquired carefully, after being met with radio silence. “You two haven’t had a falling out, have you?” Noah rolled his eyes as Charity looked to the ground.

“We had a bit of a run in yesterday, after… you know. I’ll explain later. But I haven’t had time to talk to Noah properly yet.”

“Right…” Vanessa looked between the two of them, both determinedly evading each other’s eyes. “And what does that have to do with me being here?” She directed the question at Noah, who shrugged.

“Just thought you’d have left already. Everyone else does. I know you two fell out, so that means Mum did something to ruin everything again, like she does every time. That’s why she lashed out at me. So I presumed you’d have gone.”

“Noah…”

“No!” he snapped, rounding on Charity. “I’m sick of it! It’s one thing ruining _my_ life again, but at least I’m used to it. Moses is only little, he loves Vanessa and he won’t understand why she doesn’t come round anymore. It’s not fair on him, or Johnny either. He’s not even your kid and yet you’re still managing to destroy his life just like you do ours.”

Vanessa felt Charity release her hand as the teenager continued his tirade. From the corner of her eye she saw the taller woman sink down onto the sofa, withdrawing into herself as Noah attacked the wounds she’d so recently opened up. As she stood listening to his words, watching Charity threaten to fall apart once more, Vanessa couldn’t help the anger that rose in her throat.

“Stop that right now.”

Her voice sounded cold, distant – unfamiliar even to herself. Noah, never having seen anything but the caring, maternal side of his mother’s girlfriend, stopped mid-speech, a puzzled yet slightly unnerved expression on his face. Charity was still unmoving, eyes fixed vacantly on the wall behind the boy’s head.

“You have _no_ idea what’s going on here, Noah.” Realising she’d scared the poor kid, Vanessa attempted to soften her voice. “Look, I don’t know what your mum said to upset you yesterday, but I do know it was my fault. It wasn’t her who caused the argument between us – it was me.”

She wasn’t sure how much to tell Noah; obviously, he couldn’t know the whole truth, but she also refused to stand by and let him blindly attack Charity for her own actions.

“I did something stupid and betrayed her trust. It was _me_ who ruined things, not your mum.” Taking a deep breath, she glanced over to clasp Charity’s hand, relieved when the woman’s glassy eyes met her own. “I was doing what I thought was best, but sometimes that’s not the right thing to do. I know that now. So if she was upset and lashed out at you, blame me.”

Noah looked between the two of them in confusion, considering what Vanessa was telling him. “But if you betrayed her, then why are you still here this morning?”

The bluntness of the question hit the smaller woman unexpectedly, and she found herself at a loss for words. How could she explain the mess of their current situation to a clueless 14 year old boy?

“Because we care too much about each other to let one stupid mistake ruin what we have.” Both Noah and Vanessa turned as Charity spoke hoarsely, squeezing her girlfriend’s hand.

Noah stared at his mother, noticing the slight shake of her hands and the way she curled automatically into Vanessa, as though the other woman could offer some kind of protection. He shook his head – sometimes he just didn’t understand what went on in her head, and he wished he was able to read her better. She was his mum, after all – wasn’t it his job to look out for her? He still had no idea what had happened between the two of them, but it was obvious that Charity wasn’t herself, and that worried him.

“So that’s why you shouted yesterday? Because you were upset with Vanessa?”

The vet shifted uncomfortably as Charity replied. “Yeah. Look, I’m really sorry babe. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I know I’m the world’s worst mother, but I swear I’ll try and make it up to you somehow.”

“You’re not.”

Noah stood up, making his way over to where his mother sat.

“You’re not a bad mum, how could you even think that? You love us, and you always do the best you can for us, and that’s all that matters.” Tears pooled in Charity’s eyes as she looked at her little boy - _not so little any more,_ she mused - in awe. “I’m really sorry for what I said before. I shouldn’t have blamed you and I shouldn’t have said those horrible things. I didn’t mean any of it, I promise.” He hated knowing how much he’d upset her in the heat of the moment, hated seeing her cry more than anything in the world.

Charity pushed herself off the sofa and pulled the teenager ungracefully into her arms, holding him tighter than she had done in a long time – years, perhaps. Momentarily forgetting Vanessa’s presence, Noah allowed himself to relax into her embrace, hoping it would help make up for the things he’d said.

“Oh, Noah. My beautiful boy. I don’t deserve you,” Charity sniffed, planting a kiss on the top of his head. Usually Noah would brush it off, try to act like he wasn’t bothered, but this time he didn’t want to. Tilting his head upwards at her, he smiled.

“I love you, Mum.”

“I love you too, mate.”

Suddenly remembering they weren’t alone, Noah pulled back and met Vanessa’s eyeline. The smaller woman had been beaming as the two of them hugged, pleased to see the mother and son making up, but her face dropped instantly as he turned. The teenager towered over her in a way that would almost be comical, were it not for the situation they were in.

“I don’t know what you did to upset Mum but it obviously really hurt her. And I don’t like seeing her hurt.”

Vanessa nodded sadly. “I know. Like I said, I made a mistake. A stupid, ginormous one. But I promise, we’ve sorted things now. It won’t happen again.”

Noah looked at Charity questioningly, pleased when she nodded affirmatively. “It’s fine, Noah. We’re okay.”

Turning back to Vanessa, he shot her a serious look. “If Mum’s forgiven you, then I have too. But please don’t ever hurt her like that again – she’s been through enough already, and she deserves to be happy. If you _do_ hurt her, then you’ll have me to answer to.” Charity chuckled, brushing a stray tear from her eye as Vanessa’s lips turned upwards.

“I won’t, I promise,” she reassured him. “I want your mum to be happy just as much as you do.”

“Good,” Noah nodded. He looked down bashfully. “We like having you around. You make everything feel _normal_ for once. I really don’t want to lose that, and I’m sure Moses and Johnny don’t either. Or Mum,” he added as an afterthought, making both women smile. Vanessa reached out tentatively to place her arm on the boy’s shoulder, relieved when he didn’t immediately throw her off but sank into the gesture.

“Don’t worry, Noah. Nobody’s going anywhere.”


End file.
